CUYAMACA COLLEGE WINS SUSTAINABILITY AWARD

RANCHO SAN DIEGO Cuyamaca College is one of three community colleges in the state to win the inaugural Energy and Sustainability Awards competition from the California Community Colleges Board of Governors.

Cuyamaca was recognized in the area of faculty/student initiatives. The school won for promoting sustainable landscaping at the Rancho San Diego campus.

The initiative was the result of meetings held in 2007 with 23 Cuyamaca faculty members who discussed moving beyond water conservation to a broader sustainable urban landscape approach. The campus then began using sustainable practices for stormwater, green waste, energy conservation and resource management.

The college also created a sustainable urban landscape degree and certificate program, with its first graduates expected this June.

Representatives from the college will receive the award at the May 8 Board of Governors meeting in Sacramento.

Karen Pearlman • U-T

Workers to pay more into retirement system

Santee

The Padre Dam Municipal Water District board of directors approved agreements with the Padre Dam Employees’ Association that require workers to pay a larger portion into the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

All district employees will be paying the entire 8 percent of the CalPERS contribution by 2014 and 10 percent of their dependent health care coverage beginning in 2015. Previously, employees did not contribute to health-care coverage.

The measures are expected to save the district nearly $750,000 annually.